2/14/10

Are you guilty, like me, of eating puff pastry plain? Taking strips of puff pastry rolling them in sugar and cinnamon or making them savory by sprinkling them with cheese baking till a perfect crisp and then devouring? I have all intentions of making something grand with my puff pastry (and it's not cheap to buy either), but then there are some days where I just want to make it simply for the sake of eating it for that "buttery crunch".
This time I made something fun out of the puff pastry.
Taking a perfect chocolate mousse, adding it to a baked crispy puff pastry, then drizzling it with some chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries.
Heavenly. Puff pastry and chocolate will always be a match made in heaven.
This is fairly easy to make too, the only downside is that it does not keep. Pretty much has to be eaten right away--no problem right? We all know puff pastry does not keep it's crunch after about four or so hours, maybe longer. But can I just say the crispy puff pastry teamed up with the chocolate mousse, the fresh raspberries and a int of chocolate ganache is just heavenly. I mean I know I always say this, but really all those flavors in one bite...oh baby! So good. See the photo below, two bites.
And should you not want to make chocolate mousse from scratch?
Use pudding! So easy.

Cook Notes:
you might want to do the ganache first as it needs a bit of time to cool.
Don't have time to make the mousse? Use instant pudding in a pinch.

for the custard: Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a glass bowl in a microwave at 50 percent power 3 to 5 minutes), stirring frequently.
Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool.
Beat remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks.
Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.
I then chilled my mousse in a glass bowl, covering the mousse with plastic wrap until ready to use.

puff pastry: Unroll the puff pastry and shape into whatever size you like. I did a long rectangle.
Bake according to package directions. Let cool a bit, and then fill with ready chocolate mousse.

chocolate ganache strips:
If you want to decorate the pastry with chocolate ganache strips then:

Melt the chopped chocolate with the heavy cream in a double-boiler. Make sure to stir occasionally until fully melted. Once melted, take off the heat and add in the butter bits. Make sure to whisk this up good. The better you whisk the glossier and smoother the ganache. I waited about an hour and a half for it to cool then poured it into a plastic bag to pipe onto chocolate pastry.
Just before the Ganache strips set up, decorate with raspberries.
Let set up about 15 minutes and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar, optional.

Happy V-Day Dawn! Okay, I've come up with an idea. I think you should rename your blog to "Death by Food". LOL I just about die everytime I see what you cook or bake up...I want to jump into the screen so bad!

That's really a super idea! Working with puff pastry is so easy and I love chocolate mousse...I bet this just melts in your mouth!I'm using puff pastry for a lot more things than I used to...savory as well as sweet. Wish I had read this BEFORE the 14th! Saving it for next year. Or maybe I'll have to make it sooner!

Yum. I am a lover of puff pastry too! One way you could make it 'keep' longer would be to just cut the pastry into rounds or squares and bake them. Then, keep them in an airtight container and put the mousse on when ready to serve/eat. Not ideal, but it would work.

I will have a savory puff pastry recipe on my blog on Wednesday...check it out!

Mmmm sounds good... my FAVORITE thing to do is just eat the puff pastry rolled in cinnamon sugar. But this mousse and raspberries pairing... makes me think I need to try this out before I eat it all plain!

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com